


Tried and True

by greekowl87



Series: Tried and True [1]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Angst, Fluff, MSR, post ep, s1 ep8 ice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-22 22:07:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13773558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greekowl87/pseuds/greekowl87
Summary: Written with a bout of insomnia. Post ep for 'Ice.' Building the trust that is at the foundation of Mulder and Scully's partnership.





	Tried and True

A/N: I can't sleep, so during my bout with insomnia, I rewatched 'Ice.' Meh. No beta. Tagging @today-in-fic

They kept Di Silva sedated in a locked room. Hodge was somewhere nearby as it was his turn to watch the female scientist. The body bags lay outside in a shed and the cold preserving the carnage that had occurred on top the world. Mulder was somewhere else too, Scully just did not know where. Despite the all clear and the plane that would be arriving in twenty hours, the sense of paranoia still lingered within Scully's mind.

She felt like an intruder, tossing and turning, trying to sleep in the bed of a dead man. The boobie posters and odd sports mementos only made it worse. So, with her PPK secured snugly behind her back and under her shirt, she made her rounds, inspecting the station, just in case the dead decided to linger. She could not shake the feeling of being unsettled. Her trust in everything on top of the world shattered, including the blossoming, fragile trust with her new partner. How could she have turned against Mulder when he had been right all along? 

Trust no one, his motto was, not even your own partner.

But at that moment, he was the one she wanted to see as one thing she could trust because in the end, he had trusted her and that had been enough. Quietly, she ran her fingers over the door which she knew Mulder resided on the other side and lightly, almost cowardly, she knocked. He should not have heard it, but he did. Within seconds the door was open and Scully jumped in surprise despite herself. 

"Everything all right, Scully?" 

His hair was tousled, his shirt off, and all he wore was his jeans. Scully did not fail to notice his pistol dangling his other hand. She nodded, lowering her eyes. "Sorry. Um yeah, everything's fine. I just..." She groaned inwardly. "I wanted to ask you something but I forgot what it was."

Mulder was silent for a moment, his gaze lingering over his petite partner. Quietly, he stepped aside to give her passage and she entered the room without a word. He set the weapon back on the nightstand and Scully removed her own, resting it beside Mulder's sidearm. "Can't sleep?" he asked softly.

She shooked her head, still not meeting his eyes. She wrapped her arms around herself, partially to generate some warmth and to hide her insecurity. "I'm sorry," she whispered, "for not trusting you earlier. It almost cost us our lives and I am sorry I did not trust you."

He shrugged lazily. "You did what you had to do. It's water under the bridge, Scully." She nodded curtly but did not move. Sensing the tension still between them, he spoke, "I'm not upset if that is what you are thinking."

"I betrayed your trust." If you had any in me to begin with, she thought miserably.

"No. You didn't." Out the corner of her eyes, she sneaked a glance at her half-naked partner, and in doing so, Mulder pulled on his shirt self consciously. "I still trust you, Scully. I promise," he added as if reading her mind.

"How could you?"

Mulder was likely overstepping his bounds but he cleared his throat and nodded to the bed. "Want some company?"

She sat on the unmade bed and looked timidly at him. "If this isn't awkward, I don't know what is," she chuckled nervously.

"It feels like you can't trust anyone here, does it?" he began hesitantly, locking the door and sitting beside her. "Not Hodge or Di Silva. Not the dead. Especially sleeping in a dead man's bed."

Scully laughed bitterly. "You profiling me, Mulder?"

"I just know my partner," he said quietly. He placed his hand on her shoulder. I trust you, his actions said. Scully gave him a small smile which he returned. "Come on, we need to get a few hours in before the plane comes."

She let him guide her to lay down as he lay down behind her. This was wrong but at the moment, she did not care. There was nothing sexual about this, Scully reminded herself, nothing at all with your FBI partner. But when he lay behind her, wrapping his arm loosely around her waist, she sighed inwardly in joy at the sensation of having a warm, familiar body around her, someone she could trust. She felt safe. For the first time ever, she felt truly safe. At that moment, trust no one became trust only Mulder. She could always trust Mulder.

"Comfortable?" he murmured, his warm breath washing over her the crook of her neck. She nodded. "Good. See, spooning like baby cats. Try and get some sleep, Scully. I'll keep watch."

She let her eyes drift close, listening to the howling Arctic wind and her partner's heartbeat slowly and steadily like the ocean's tide, trusted, tried, and true.


End file.
